Castlevania: Sons of Darkness
by Kill Boss 98 REBORN
Summary: After defeating The Devil a second time, former monster hunter Gabriel Belmont wakes up to find that a new enemy has taken over his beloved castle, forcing the last Belmont to reclaim the only home he has left. It just so happens that the person in his place goes by the familiar name of Walter Bernhard.
1. Chapter 1

**So yeah, as much as I enjoy the lore of the Lords of Shadow series, I just thought that the use of that world's Walter Bernhard was missed opportunity, and I kind of want to experimented with the mythos a little bit since this short lived trilogy since it stars my one of my favorite versions of Count Dracula. Oh and expect maybe a few references to the original games' continuity and characters here and there. Please enjoy…**

A pale skinned man with a red coat watched as the very city that surrounds his castle has rather recently began to finish rebuilding itself thanks to those lucky enough to survive what almost ending up becoming "Hell on Earth". Though this man has prevented that from happening, he was no angel.

However, he used to be one God's warrior's. His name was Gabriel Belmont, a man who had done what many people impossible which was kill Satan himself not once, but twice. Once as the Champion of Light: Gabriel, and the second time as the Prince of Darkness with the name he had given himself centuries ago (and seemingly plans to keep for the of rest of his life): Dracula…

It's been four months since Satan himself made his return to Earth, four month since this whole city almost became a small portion of The Devil's personal playground for himself and probably his children too.

"Lost in thought father?" A voice spoke out behind him. The vampire lord turned around to see his son Alucard walking up right behind him still wearing the gothic looking armor he stole a while back. He stood right next to him looking out at the city. "It is quite a change isn't it?"

Gabriel just nodded in agreement. "It's shame that Victor could not live to see this city finely getting back on its feet. Tell me son, am I really the last Belmont?"

"I'm afraid so, why do you ask?"

"I continue to look, and wonder if something were to happen… if someone like Satan or his acolytes were to come back again… Are we mankind's best line of defense?"

"Your success in saving them wasn't too long ago father, I think we all can rest easy now." Alucard said carefully, "Maybe you should take a break. Leave the castle and see what else has come and gone during your absence."

The older vampire thought about this for a moment. "Where should I go?"

"Well technically this is your city. Why not explore it? As I said before, we can all rest easy now."

After putting more thought into the idea, Gabriel decided that maybe a night on the town wouldn't be so bad, especially when there were no monsters to complicate things. "Just be sure to tell your mother." The Lord of Shadow stated earning a nod from the younger vampire. Gabriel then jumped off the railing quickly turning into a swarm of bats flying to no real specific location.

Gabriel had spent a good hour or two in the Downtown area where he got more of a good look at the homes and business buildings that had designs and lengths that peaked his interest earlier. Most of the apartments were either being rebuilt, getting brand new residents, or just completely abandoned while Zobek's Emporium was catching the eyes of many Business CEOs and entrepreneurs. Rumors say that Zobek's building might actually end up getting turn into a hospital to help those not recovering that well even after the plague started. Of course he did also get some weird looks from the people who were walking around on the streets which really didn't bother the former monster hunter in the slightest.

One woman on the streets looked up to the sky with a gasp as many others (including Gabriel turned to that direction) watching as the whole sky turned into a dark shade of purple with the sun being blocked out by some sort of solar eclipse Gabriel could've sworn heard what sounded like the click of a lock as what he watched what he assumed was the moon completely blocking out the sun.

The last Belmont sighed. "What now?" He asked narrowing his eyes both in annoyance and concern. Even though Gabriel was indeed something crazy to happen around here, he wouldn't expect it to happen so soon with the damage that was already undone.

But that ended up being the least of his problems. Gabriel then suddenly felt dizzy as grabbed his head in pain, he concluded that whatever was going on around him was affecting him as well as he slowly fell to the ground unconscious.

A few hours later, Gabriel woke up grabbing his head once feeling a migraine trying his best to shrug it off. His eyes went wide sitting up as he checked his surroundings as he was sitting on an old sleeping bag inside a camping tent he took a peek outside the door and saw that he was in still in Castlevania City, but this time he was in the the alleyways where he saw many other tents and makeshift shelters with a few people sitting outside them doing things such as: as praying to God for answers and protection, listening to radio that one of the residents there own or watching that TV they had. Gabriel looked up into the sky and saw that it was still a dark shade of purple along with eclipse still in its place. Gabriel looked around a second time and muttered to himself: "I find it hard to believe that I somehow missed this."

"You wouldn't be the first one to do so." A younger voice spoke up. Gabriel turned to see a young man who looked no older than seventeen wearing a purple hoodie with a black denim vest over it and a pair of white fingerless gloves carrying a bowl of soup. "I assume that you are the one who lives in that castle."

"Aye, I am." The last Belmont answered accepting the soup drinking half of it straight from the bowl, however he begin to think more on the question and sense that there was something wrong. "However, I feel like something… happened to not just to the world around us by to me somehow…"

"What do you mean exactly?"

"After making myself lord of the Castle, I couldn't help but feel that more than just that, like it became a part of me somehow. Now I as if that connection between me and it is completely gone."

"Do you think someone may have taken up residence in there while you were gone?" The young man asked carefully.

"Seems like the only explanation for it. Though I'm not sure where it would cause the moon to block out the sun, that's something completely beyond my power."

"At least we can see it's just the moon and sun, I'm just wondering why the sky itself is that color." The boy stated with Gabriel nodding in agreement taking another sip of the soup. As a vampire, Gabriel doesn't really eat normally food like he used to, but he had to admit did taste pretty good even if it wouldn't sistian him. The two then heard screaming coming from the other homeless civilians outside completely altering them. The two saw then looked up seeing some human sized demon with sickly light gray skin, spiked tails, and bat like wings attacking people left and right.

The vampire walked out into the opening letting out a whistle grabbing the demons' attention causing them to hiss at him. The last Belmont just smirked in response. "Guessed I missed a few." He said jokingly.

One of the demon goes in for the kill, but Gabriel surprises it but summoning a whip made from his own blood cutting it in half. It didn't take to kill the other three demons with almost little to no effort, which was more than enough to get some mixed reactions from the crowd. Some looked at Gabriel with new found sense of hope while others backed away in fear.

The young man before walked over besides the vampire observing the one demon that suffered had the least severe injuries. "We're not safe here of these things are coming here to attack us." He then turned to Gabriel and asked: "Wanna see something crazy?"

The vampire then gave an unsure nod getting the boy the okay. He walked over to the fallen monster and suddenly, both of his hand were covered in glowing blue flames surprising Gabriel. He then placed but hands on the dead demon engulfing him in the blue flames. Within seconds, the demon rose back up with its wounds completely healed and his eyes now giving of a bright blue glow. Gabriel was about to fight it again but stopped himself when he saw that it did not immediately attack like it did a few moments ago. In fact, the demon seemed rather docile now confusing the last Belmont. Though what surprised him even more was when he looked around and saw that nobody in the crowd even flinched when the demon came back to life.

"What the hell are you playing at boy?" Gabriel asked the supposed necromancer.

"Guess now would be good time to tell you, but I'm learning to become a Devil Forgemaster."

"A what?"

"A Devil Forgemaster, someone who can bring dead creatures back to life or could even have spirits and demons inhabit their bodies." He explained. "I've done this with a few times with a few rats and even some dead pigeons to help find some food for us that wasn't already in the garbage. The people around here call them "Innocent Devils", not hard to see why."

Gabriel nodded impressed, but had to ask: "Tell me lad, what is a young man of such talent doing living here in the gutters?"

"Well my parents kicked me out of the house when they found out about my "Talents", and since I had nowhere else to go the people here welcomed me in with open arms." The young man explained plainly. "Besides, we actually had another Forgemaster living here a while ago but he sort of disappeared from us. I'm not even sure if any of us will even see him again."

"So I see, and I understand that you probably don't want to leave now that demons are walking among us once more."

"Right, at least with these leftover monster to use it should make things easier for me to hold anymore off that would come by here later. I assume you're going to take back your castle now."

"Smart boy." Gabriel said as he began to walk away but stopped himself looking back one last time. "What's your name lad?"

"Hector, and I think it's pretty obvious who you are. So I wish you luck, Lord Dra-"

"Just Dracula, but thanks." Gabriel finished once again turning into swarm of bats, this time flying back to the castle. While part of him was curious on how Hector already knew his name, he decided to worry about it later. When he arrived he saw that the whole portion that was still remotely part of its original architecture was completely covered in a red glowing forcefield with every other entry way seemingly blocked off as well.

After a few seconds the part of the forcefield that was covering the front gate vanished with the gates themselves opening up showing that he was definitely expected. When the vampire walked up to the front door he found a note clearly addressed to him.

_"Nice job keeping the place clean, I look forward to meeting you._

_-Walter"_

"Walter? Why does that name sound so familiar?" He thought out loud, he then realized that "Walter" was probably luring him into a trap, especially when considering that he wanted the last Belmont to specifically come through that where he'll have to make a slight journey to his throne room where he would most likely find this "new lord of the castle". But at this point he didn't care, he knows that both his son and the ghost of his wife were still inside and something bad has probably already happened while he was away. "I just got my family, I will not lose them a second time." Gabriel muttered as opened the doors making his way inside preparing himself for whatever surprises maybe waiting for him.

**So yeah, I decided to throw in Hector for a little bit of fan service (your welcome). Any way just what "surprises" are in store for Dracula? Only time will tell. Until Next Time…**


	2. Chapter 2

Gabriel looked around in the main hall and things are rather quiet… Maybe a little too quiet… He looked around and sniffed the air, hoping to find Alucard, all the Last Belmont could do at the moment was pray that nothing bad has happened to him while he was recovering. Making sure that both his wife and his son were safe from whatever "Walter" has wrought on this castle was his top priority.

Since Gabriel had no idea of what to expect from this new enemy, appearance wise everything in the castle was the same. But the more that he explored the more that the castle's atmosphere kept putting him on edge, getting a constant sense that something could appear out of nowhere and attack at any second. He stopped himself dead in his tracks when he nose picked up a scent that smells a lot like rotten eggs: Sulphur…

With the sound of a creature with four legs come from behind, Gabriel once again summons the Void Sword turning around stabbing into the monster that was about to pounce on him pinning it to the ground. He looked to see the now impaled creature looked like a wolf with inky black skin instead of fur which had glowing yellow eyes and streaks on both sides of the body with a strange crimson marking that the vampire was not familiar with, along with some black smoke radiating from its breath as it yelped in pain from the ice cold blade. The Last Belmont was quick to deduce that what he was facing off with was a Hellhound, a monster that he was sure was just one of many now infesting the castle.

Before Gabriel could finish the creature off, he felt set of obsidian like teeth biting down on his wrist causing him to scream in agony letting go of his sword as he turned to see that it was a second Hellhound biting down on him. He quickly used his claws swiping them across the second hound's face cutting both eyes this time forcing the beast to let go temporarily blind.

Gabriel hissed as he blew on his fingers to cool down the hot sting from the lava like blood that these monsters have while letting his fast healing kick in. Finally, a third one appears getting ready to pounce like its brother but once again Gabriel was quick to avoid it by ducking and raising a hand up pushing it away.

With the three demonic dogs lined up together, they would look almost completely identical if the vampire hasn't taken a good look and notice that the second and third one had red marks just like the first but with their symbols that they made up of completely different designs from each-others'.

The second with its eyes now full healed and the third glowed at the last Belmont standing their ground while the first struggled to stand back up with the blue glowing sword still stuck in his stomach as it gave off another whine. Gabriel smirked at the sight seeing that sight showing that he had an advantage but it quickly dropped as he saw that the sword's glow began to fade despite the monster it was still lodged in was weakened. He came to the conclusion that the weapon was a double edged sword in both ways as while the weapon will definitely hurt them, the Hellhounds can deplete its magic in turn.

One another Hellhound goes in for the attack but Gabriel quickly summoned his Shadow whip knocking it away no doubt with the fresh wound already healing. Moving quickly, he dashed and grabbed the Void Sword violently yanking it out of the hurt monster.

Using his whip again he managed to help keep his distances from the three demon dogs until the sword's magic was fully recharged. The Last Belmont then used his weapon to create large crystals of ice impaling the hound closest to him, and then decapitating it putting the first beast out of its misery.

Another actually took a few steps back, showing that it was no stranger to the sense of fear. With it's guard slightly down, Gabriel did a quick dash stabbing the sword through the hound's maw with the blade poking out from the back of the head. Then the last one tried repeating the same tactic of catching the vampire with ambush. However, he was more prepared and with one swing, cut the monster completely in half leaving it to fall into the ground in defeat.

Though as much as Gabriel would've like to just move on afterwards, he couldn't help but notice how easy and quick it was to help turn this fight in his favor. Unfortunately his instincts only proved his suspicions right, when the three symbols on each dog being giving off a crimson glow, the last Belmont clenched his fist in anticipation but then quickly cover his eyes from a sudden bright flash came from the three symbols.

Uncovering his sight, he then looked up in shock to see a gigantic three headed HellHound towering over him with all three heads howling at once. From the corner of his eye, the Last Belmont took notice of seeing the three symbols now merged into a great big one still in the same spot. Just before the flash, he saw that the symbol that got cut in half along with the mutt it was bond to flickered a bit before then beginning to glow brightly, unlike the other two that lit up immediately. Now that he knew what/where the weak spot it all came down to how this beast was going to protect it. Cerberus was here, and he was pissed…

Before he could react, the head on the left let out a huge breath filling the room with smoke. Gabriel coughed a few times trying to locate the now large beast through the black, sulfur filled fog, only to be suddenly greeted by the middle head who was now breathing fire at him no different from a dragon.

After having having all of his skin burned off from the attack, Cerberus then swatted the vampire away with one of its paws making him hit a nearby wall. Slowly getting back up with his wounds still healing, the Last Belmont saw that the Merged Hellhound wasn't moving from his spot confusing the vampire since he was still somewhat vulnerable. He turned his attention to the right head who looked like it had something up in it's cheeks, a few seconds afterwards the right head then hacked out a huge of what looked like magma flying straight towards him.

Gabriel narrowly dodged the projectile the head would try firing some more magma until finally giving up with Gabriel's injuries finally healed and in turn was able to avoid every shot much more easily.

Summoning the Void Sword once more, Gabriel rushed over to the beast's side ready to hit the "mystical bullseye". The left head then tried to flood the room with smoke once more but was interrupted when the vampire then dropped to the ground sliding across the floor and swung the sword sending a beam/slash hitting it directly in the neck causing the built up smoke to spill on to the ground like a waterfall. Immediately picking himself back off the ground, the former monster hunter avoids both the nearest head and paw jumping into the air plunging his cold weapon into the center of the strange symbol causing all three heads to cry out in pain. the Last Belmont roared as he charged every once of magic the blade had into Cerberus causing the symbol to glow a bright white knocking Gabriel away with an explosion.

With a more graceful landing than the last he looked up to see some small snow like substances to gently fall around him. Catching one in his hand he looked at he would describe as "a combination of ash and ice" something that was neither hot nor cold. Looking over to the side, he saw the corpse of the Merged Hellhound was now getting turned into the snow like objects starting from the large hole its side. Remembering that he still has not consumed any blood recently, Gabriel had decided to try an find the nearest source in the castle (which lucky for him) was close to where he was standing.

Unknown to the former monster hunter, someone was watching the whole battle. "Go ahead warrior, take some time to recover. This test was quite successful." spoke a man with long silver hair wearing an black and purple outfit.

**Anyone wanna take a guess at who that was watching Gabriel's fight? All and all, I hope ya'll enjoyed and I'd say it's about time that I brought some attention back to this story. ALSO! Expect another chapter for The Power of 'Two pretty soon.**

**Until Next Time…**


	3. Chapter 3

After consuming a good amount of blood from the nearest Font, Gabriel journeyed deeper into the halls of what should be his own home, and yet he still couldn't shake off how the feeling of how it really felt like the castle itself had turned against him. After defeating the Cerberus, he traveled with anticipation for what else could be after him, he knew that monster was just the beginning.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he stopped seeing a bright light flashing three times in front of him before stopping coming from a nearby room. The vampires rolled his eyes knowing very well it's a trap, but with no other path to take he decided to take a more "quiet" approach, shapeshifting into a rat and staying hidden in the shadows.

When he arrived, the Last Belmont saw only just a large mirror and nothing else, after taking a quick sweep of the room, and seeing that he was alone, Gabriel changed back into his "human" form and decided to inspect the mirror with his curiosity getting the better of him. "_Where did this come from? Must be Walter's doing."_ He thought to himself. This wasn't the Mirror of Fate, but rather something completely foreign from his past. The mirror in question was incredibly wide, almost touching both sides of the room. It had a shining gold frame with an embossing on the top showing a face with one half being black with a blue eye and the other white with a red eye. He took another look around and while he did figure the flashes of light was caused by some light reflecting from the glass, there wasn't really anything aside from a few candles that had flames too small to bounce off the mirror.

Even though Gabriel both physically and prepared himself for what may come but couldn't stop himself when he saw his reflection. The belief that vampires had no reflections was a bit of an exaggeration that Gabriel never quite understood, he could see himself just fine. However, it wasn't himself that he saw but the man he used to be before becoming the dragon.

Standing before on the other side of the glass, the Gabriel Belmont he was looking at was wearing the uniform he wore when he was serving the Brotherhood of Light, along with the Vampire Killer combat cross strapped to his hip. He made a mental note that he should also find that so he could be better equipped to face off against Walter and whatever "surprises" may still be in bound. Turning his attention back to the rest of him, Gabriel looked at how his face perfectly reflected how much he had changed since his days as a monster hunter, seeing his now crimson colored eyes once a soft blue, raven black hair once a simple dark brown, and skin not at all pale and full of color.

Even if the reflection did resemble him as Dracula, there was a growing sense of uneasiness, almost like the reflection itself was going to stop mimicking his movements and attack him. Sadly his instincts would only prove him right…

Suddenly, the reflection suddenly jumped off from the glass and grabbed the "Combat Cross" trying to land a quick strike while his guard was down. However the real Gabriel saw this coming and summoned his Chaos Claws grabbing the spiked chain of the whip with an unamused look on his face and shot at a fireball at the duplicate's chest knocking it back nearly losing its grip on the fake Vampire Killer with the Gabriel letting go of the chain causing it to retract back into the cross.

The vampire simply groaned as he faced his opponent: "I hate mirrors." As if on cue, the duplicate's whole body and weapons turned completely grey with both eyes turning into two empty voids with some noticeable cracks going along with the body and armor. The double, or "Doppelgänger" as Gabriel named it, began to unleash a couple of strikes with its whip, while Gabriel was lucky to avoid a few hits, there were moments where Doppelgänger knew where he was going to try and dodge and fired a couple of "silver daggers" right on target. Getting frustrated, Gabriel quickly turned into a swarm of bats and remetarilized right in front of the living reflection landing a powerful uppercut with the Chaos Claws knocking it into the air, before it could even hit the ground, the Last Belmont grabbed by the collar with one of the burning gauntlets and slammed Doppelgänger onto the ground with a small explosion. The Doppelgänger then pulled itself off the ground but was immediately hit with a flaming right hook knocking it back once more. Now back on its feet with no interruptions, the reflection then summoned its version of both the Dark Gauntlets and Cyclone Boots putting up its fists with Gabriel returning the gesture.

Without a moment of hesitation, the two Gabriel's were locked in a series of punches with the two being able to counter almost every strike. The vampire needed to find a way to end the stalemate and fast, he was stopped when the duplicate landed a powerful blast with a sprint of the boots, knocking the Prince of Darkness on his back.

Gabriel then realized that this imposter was only using the weapons that he had back when he was human, and only those, meaning the real Belmont still had an ace up his sleeve.

Gabriel instead of attacking right away, the vampire stood his ground with his fist once again raised, Doppelgänger then charged once more towards him ready with another punch with Gabriel not only dodging the attack but swapping out the Chaos Claws for the Void Sword stabbing the reflection through the chest. "Surprise." Gabriel said with a smirk focusing some energy into the blade blowing a hole in the duplicate's chest following it up by beheading it. When Doppelgänger's head hit the floor, it shattered into countless glass pieces along with the rest of the body doing the same, within seconds the pieces then vanished into thin air solidifying Gabriel's victory.

Suddenly a much larger flash came from the mirror making Gabriel turn around with his sword still in hand. However, when he turned around, he saw that the glass of the mirror was changed into a portrait of himself from when he was still human striking a heroic pose with the Vampire Killer surrounded by dead ghouls, showing it to be a scene taking place after an epic battle. If anything, this was what the Doppelgänger was made to be a poor imitation of. He also looked up and saw the face had also changed to where it was now completely white with both eyes being blue, he wasn't quite sure what it meant but decided not to dwell on it.

In a strange way, Gabriel was actually somewhat thankfully for this battle. Not only does it only reflect on how far he has come since being human, but it also brought to life two important factors: One being that he needs to make sure that no one or nothing has already gotten a hold of the Vampire Killer, since it could be of use on this journey, and that even though he has already accepted being the Prince of Darkness along time ago, in the end, he was still a Belmont. Something that he will always carry with great pride.

**So yeah… I'm not dead. I don't really have anything else to say besides that I hope y'all enjoyed it. Until Next Time…**


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